Greek and Turkish coast guards have agreed to enhance cooperation in combating migrant smuggling along one of Europe’s main migration routes. Senior coast guard officials from both nations met on the Greek island of Chios on Tuesday, marking the first meeting of this kind in five years. The next meeting is scheduled for February 2025 in Turkey.
This renewed collaboration comes as relations between Greece and Turkey have improved since a peak in military tensions in 2020 over gas exploration rights in the Aegean. During the Chios talks, officials agreed to increase joint efforts and intelligence-sharing to curb organized migrant smuggling networks.
Thousands of migrants, mostly from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, attempt the perilous journey across the Aegean Sea each year in search of a better life in the EU, often in unsafe boats. Greece’s minister for merchant marine, Christos Stylianides, said that the meeting “was held in an exceptional climate,” with practical agreements reached on reducing migrant flows and targeting smugglers.
UN data shows that over 52,000 migrants have entered Greece illegally this year, a rise from the nearly 49,000 recorded in 2023. This increase is partly driven by migrants making the longer journey from Libya to Greece’s southern island of Crete. On Tuesday, 19 people were rescued from a small boat near Crete, one of whom was arrested on suspicion of being part of a smuggling ring charging up to $6,500 per person for the crossing.
